Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

New York State of Mind

The two hour and 30 minute rain delay finally in the books, it’s hard not to think past today and think about what is ahead in the Bronx. The Red Sox have the type of opportunity that doesn’t come along often. They have a chance to flatten the Yankees before Memorial Day.

Of course, to do this, they would need a sweep. Likely? Of course not. But the possibility still exists. For the first time I can ever remember, the Red Sox can go into this series free and easy. All of the pressure, and i mean ALL of it, is on the Yankees.

They are at a fragile point here. Rocket is rushing to re-launch, wondering if there will even be a cause to pitch for by the time he returns.

Hudson against Gabbard doesn’t favor the Red Sox, but how many times have we said things like that this year and then the opposite of what you expect ends up happening? And what ever happened to the American League East? Only one team is over .500.

I liked Tito’s move of saving Schilling for the final game in New York. Watching Schilling his last two starts, he hasn’t looked like the same guy. I’d think that giving him an extra day of rest would only help. He always loves pitching in New York.

By the way, does Jonathan Papelbon ever pitch anymore? What a luxury for the Sox to be able to rest him so much.

I’m glad they got this one in and judging by the TV it looks to have turned into a beautiful day. Gabbard looks great early on, plus we can gain a game on every team in the East except the Yanks who will most likely lose tonight ;)

XX, I know that with a win and Yank loss we gain a game on them, lol, does it look like I was born yesterday? What I meant to say was that we are assured of gaining a game on TB, Bal, and Tor and with the Yanks throwing a rookie against a top 5 pitcher in the NL we will PROBABLY make one up on them as well. Gabbard 7 k’s in 5 innings never would have guessed he would do this well plus Youk getting all kinds of luck with that HR. I guess when you’re hot, you’re hot

If Torre does in fact go I would get a kick out of it because that was the main reason Clemens came back (well maybe not the MAIN($$)reason). If Clemens first start is in early June with the Yanks 12 or 13 out and no Torre haha what a day!

I have a beautiful vision of the Yanks right now. Consider the Yankees as the yacht that Rodney Dangerfield sailed in Caddyshack. Picture it sinking… fast… holes everywhere. Then imagine George Steinbrenner on his massive ocean liner pulling up besides the Yankee yacht. George then drops a big, fat, old, overpriced, anchor (Clemens) right into the deck of the yacht. Ahhh.

2 out of 3 in New York should be the goal and with the way they are playing we must do well so we can let that sleeping dog lie. I’m confident in Wake tomorrow and we always hit Wang well. Split the final two and I’ll be happy and we can head off to struggling Texas.

rsjones: you couldn’t have said it any better. Youk deserves to be in the All Star game the rate he’s going.

So what’s up with Donnelly as of late? Location issues or some unknown injury? Good move on Tito’s part to call up Delcarmen after optioning Gabbard back down to AAA (although I’m sure the way Gabbard pitched, I’m sure he wasn’t too pleased to go back, heh). Never know when you need an extra reliever and at the moment, we can go without another starter anyway.

So anybody watching the Yanks/Mets game at the moment? Clippard seems to be doing pretty well; I saw the first inning and was impressed. Seems like he’s got a 1-run lead at the moment as well.

Your right rsox it is Mussina, they both pitched a doubleheader last week and Joe must have picked Moose for Monday. Youk won’t get voted in by the fans, but I’m sure Leyland will pick him as a reserve, he is having a helluva season and seeing every pitch so well. Besides, I still think Big Papi is the best 1B/DH in the AL and the fans all over the country love him as well.

That said, I think it is all but impossible the Yankees win the division, but with the big three up for the next two series’ it would be nice to be 5-7 vs the sox when it’s over. Also, Clemens expects to be back vs Toronto.

I distinctly remember posting around 3 weeks ago about how Red Sox fans should stop looking over their shoulders and expecting to see the Yankees coming. All that has happened since then has been a widening lead in the AL East for the Sox. 10 and 1/2 games! Put it this way, if the Yankees even pull within 6 in the coming weeks, there will certainly be cause for alarm, but right now, enjoy it.

How good does it feel to have the two teams who are tied for second place fate’s in our hands? First, a series coming up against the Yanks, who we can potentially bury with a sweep and also the Orioles, who we absolutely own.

Toronto isn’t going to make any noise in the AL East this season with all of their injuries, look for Tampa Bay to put together a surprisingly successful season. Sox haven’t even seen them yet, which I find weird.

By the way, Gabbard looked awesome today. Having two capable lefties (Gabbard and Lester) as well as two 26 year old righties quickly establishing themselves (Beckett and Matsuzaka) bodes well for the future.

While I agree that Sox fans (or ANY baseball fans for that matter) should enjoy every minute that their favorite team spends at the top of their division, I think it is simply delusional to consider any team “buried” with more than 4 months to go in a season.

Let’s be optomistic for a minute and say the Sox sweep the Yanks this week. That would mean the Sox’ lead over them would be almost 14 games. Does that number ring a bell? If not, let me remind you that the Sox held a 14-game lead TWO MONTHS LATER (July 18, to be exact) in 1978, and still ended the season tied with the Yankees.

To cite a more rose-colored example, one which I’ve mentioned before, Jeff Brantley declared at the 2004 All-Star break that the season was “over” for the Red Sox. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to remind you what the result of that year was.

Now, I don’t believe in curses, and I try not to be a pessimist. But there are too many things that can happen, and George Steinbrenner has too much money, for me to think that a 10+ game lead over the Yankees means the Sox have the division locked up. I’m psyched that the Sox are in first, and I’m enjoying every second of it. But I’m not dumb enough to think they’ve got the division sewn up.

I don’t think that it is absurd to label the Yankees “buried” if they get swept this series. I understand the whole doomsday, weary, woe is me attitude that comes along with being a fan of the Sox, but at a certain point you people need to have some confidence in them.

It’s not as if the 2007 Red Sox are completely overachieving right now, like the team last year was. It was said a thousand times that ON PAPER this team is loaded, but of course on paper means nothing until you go out and prove it. Well they’ve been proving it for the first 43 games of the season.

My main point is that while The Rivalry is fun and something interesting/crazy always seems to happen, this obsession with the Yankees apparent immoortality is reaching ridiculous levels. They have many holes in their game right now (starting pitching, the bullpen, certain “big bats” not producing). Given the more-than-capable minds we have in the front office, if the Yankees start to creep closer, don’t you think Theo and Co. will act accordingly and make some deals to improve the team?

It’s like everybody is expecting the Red Sox to drop 14 in a row while at the exact same time the Yankees will tear off 15 wins to overtake the division.

zachary, you’re absolutely right. But I’ve been a Sox fan too long NOT to have that feeling of doom. This team seems unstoppable and, as you say, they are not using smoke and mirrors. I look at this series and see that they should take two of three. I’m pretty confident they can. From here on out all the Sox need to do is win 3 out of every 5 and they’ll cruise to the division title. The best indicator of this years team is that it is always someone different that contributes to the win. That and the pitching.

For any team in the AL East to gain significant ground, the Sox will have to experience a prolonged losing streak, which is unlikely because of their starting pitching. There is no doubt that the Sox will encounter the inevitable stretch where they go 5-5 or 8-10, but you will not see a losing streak of more than three games this year. That is my prediction. And the Yankees don’t have enough in their rotation and bullpen to sustain a long winning streak. I have no doubt they will make a run, but this is not a very good Yankees team.

Who the heck is pitching tonight for the Yanks? Different media outlets are saying different things. ESPN is saying Wang but Vince and the rest of you guys say Moose. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, I for one would like to see Wang tonight and let Mussina go against Tavarez whom at this point actually has a better ERA than him.

I thought it was Moose cause the redsox.com front page said so yesterday. But now they’re saying Wang. And so does the yanks site. So Wang it is. Maybe Joe is playing some mind games with us !!!!!!!! We’ll have to face both anyway, so we might as well begin with their ace Wang.

When did I ever say the Sox are bound to lose and we’ll all be crying in our beer come September 30? All I said is there’s no such thing as a sure thing when you’re barely a quarter of the way through the season. I think the Sox have a great chance of winning the division for the first time in a long time, and it’s quite possible the Yankees won’t even make the post season.

The Yankees don’t have to win 15 in a row. All they have to do is win one more game than the Red Sox every two weeks between now and the end of the season and they’ve caught up. Do I think that’s inevitable? No. Do I think it’s probable? No. Do I think it’s possible? Yes.

I’m not obssessed with the Yankees. I could very well be the Orioles that pull a huge trade and make a run for the division title. The Yankees just have more money with which to make things happen.

Teams go into slumps. Teams go on runs. Players get injured. Players get traded. Tons of things can happen that will affect the outcome of this season. If I were a betting man, I’d put money on the Sox being at the top of the AL East come October 1. All I’m saying is don’t start the ticker tape parade just yet.

This game couldn’t be more ugly. Judy Drew continues to stink up the joint in the first. The ump personally takes at least one run away in the second (3-1 count on Youk). When I saw that pitch, I was willing to bet my house that was at least 2-3 inches outside. K-zone proved that. Wake can’t get a single call. What a joke. I can’t tell you how much I would love to see a computer call balls and strikes. I haven’t seen Wake pitch all year… but I can’t imagine him winning ever. Umps are so confused by the knuckle-ball, they never call it a strike.

I think it’s harsh to call Drew “Judy.” He has played exceptional defense, and he has played hurt. However, I do agree that it hurt to leave two on in the first and the bases loaded in the second while the Yankees scored two in each inning. Wakefield definitely does not have his best stuff tonight. If he doesn’t settle down soon, since the Sox are prone to leaving men on base, this game could be a wash very quickly.

This game not starting out great, but I do believe we came back from a 4 run deficit against NY earlier this year and that was in the 8th. We need to keep building up Wanger’s pitch count and get to that pen plus Wake needs to settle down. GO SAWX!

Wakefield was awful. Simply awful. He deserves the loss in this game, as do the Sox. They haven’t been able to take advantage of Wang and the runners left on base, and Wakefield walks five batters. THis game is going to be uglier than it is right now before it’s all said and done.

Granted Wakefield was bad but he was bound to get lit up sooner or later and the last 2 starts he has been. Still the ERA stands at a manageable 3.14. Don’t count the Sox out till that final out is made even with the great Mare-i-ano out there in the pen.

I’m just gonna call it a night. I can’t stand watching pitchers pitch behind in the count and walk so many hitters. I would rather see an outing like Tavarez had a couple starts ago, where he allowed lots of hits, than watch so many pitches out of the strike zone. I need a Samuel Adams and a TV channel that is not tuned to ESPN.

I really doubt that one or two potential bad strike calls attributed to the 6-2 loss. The Sox even got a break when they called Posada out on that double play early in the game, so it all evens out. Just an ugly game, Wakefield was especially wild and all of those leadoff walks came back to haunt him. How do you NOT steal on the guy?

One silver lining in the game was the bullpen. At least they kept the game within reach for the remainder of the night, and the Sox had their opportunity with Lugo but you can’t win them all.

Drew has really got to step it up right now. When he was hitting .400 then went into a 20-day slump, I was quick to forgive. But all of these baserunners he is leaving in scoring position makes me want to see Tito switch him and Lowell in the lineup. Why not? Lowell is more than capable and maybe it will relieve some pressure off of JD.

And Rob, take it easy. I never said anybody was crying, all I said was I am getting sick of hearing RED SOX fans hype up the Yankees deep pockets, superstar players, and flair for the dramatic. Leave that up to the Yankee fans, or at least allow Vince do it on this site.

At the risk of drawing out a fairly pointless discussion, you didn’t just say you were sick of people hyping the Yankees’ deep pockets. You referred to the “doomsday, weary, woe is me attitude that comes along with being a fan of the Sox” and said that “It’s like everybody is expecting the Red Sox to drop 14 in a row while at the exact same time the Yankees will tear off 15 wins to overtake the division.” I haven’t seen anyone express those types of attitudes on this blog. All they’ve said is that it’s unrealistic to think the Yankees are done for this season, which is true.

Thanks for the addition of that “nuff said” to conclude your post, it really put the exclamation point on it. Anyways, I am well-aware of the risk of drawing out this now meaningless discussion and it is one I am willing to take.

Good job of picking and choosing which quotations you used, but I think my main point was this:

“…Red Sox fans should stop looking over their shoulders and expecting to see the Yankees coming.”

We all know what that entails, sorry for not specifying. But I’ll elaborate: Red Sox fans expect to see the Yankees coming because they expect the worse, are aware of the Yankees talent, money, and love of breaking our hearts and spirits.

On a more interesting topic, Delcarmen looked pretty solid tonight. I’ve always liked him, even when he had that high ERA last year. If he can finally put together his mid-90s fastball along with that nasty, biting curve, he can be a solid set-up guy for the future.

Even the quote you prefer to emphasize illustrates my point, which is that I don’t think the Sox fans that post here are EXPECTING the Yankees to break our hearts. They’ve dropped the sad sack mindset, which makes it much more fun to read to read this blog than it was to listen to the “just wait until August” comments we all used to hear.

I agree with your point that the Sox have a great team this year. I just didn’t feel it was appropriate to tag folks on this blog as mopey downers who expect the worst.

I know it’s late, so pardon me not making any sense, but Vince, did you just start a fight? ;-)

All kidding aside, I couldn’t even watch that game. What happened to Wake there? And did our hitters fall asleep the entire flight to NY and then some? Chalk it up to a loss that was deserved and move on; however, I figured this would be a close game, not something like this.

Why are we arguing about the Yankees coming back and somehow taking back the division? We all know it’s possible since it’s just May. If we’re still talking about this during mid-late July/early August, then maybe there’s some merit to the fact that we’ll win the division. Simply put: the Yankees have too much offensive talent to be where they are at the moment, and their pitching is very slowly coming together; when it does, the Yankee bullpen will no longer be overworked, and the rivalry will hopefully come into full force. It’s the fact that the Yankees (note: winning tradition and huge payroll and talent) are losing in such a way that it’s such a media grab. If we were losing at such a pace, New England would be in an uproar for similar reasons.

And my late night rant is over. :-)

So speaking about Delcarmen, him and Hansen were part of some crazy Pawtucket loss a few weeks ago right? It’s good to see Delcarmen doing well at the moment.

I have always had respect for the Yankees club while enjoying the competion with the Sox. They were a clean cut bunch of guys, a sharp looking club. Now, Giambi looks weathered at best and A-Rods’ behavior is an act of cheap desparation. You cannot always be a winner so being a graceful looser with class is respectable. A-Rod should not be considered an All-Star for this.

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